mercredi 4 février 2009

Guerlain paints the little black dress in pink

What in God’s green earth (well, snowy in Paris for the moment) possessed Guerlain to name their new fragrance La Petite Robe Noire, aka « the Little Black Dress »? As every blogger and her sister has remarked by now, the item is kind of a Chanel trademark; and the scent itself, as Octavian Coifan says, is anything but black, unless the black refers to the defunct Black Cherry Vanilla Coke.

Guerlain’s scents were always too narrative to lend themselves to the abstract, stylized, go-with-everythingness of the LBD. And despite the lovely array of black dresses lent by star vintage dealer Didier Ludot’s Petite Robe Noire boutique in the Palais-Royal (both vintage and reproductions), the new Guerlain isn’t so much a garment as a bit of pastry – definitely closer in spirit to Sofia Coppola’s gourmande Marie-Antoinette than to Blake Edward’s Holly Golightly.

Of course, pastry perfume is one of the things Guerlain has been doing the most recently: Aurélien Guichard’s Elixirs Charnels have that edible, dusted sugar quality; Maurice Roucel’s L’Instant and Insolence, Thierry Wasser’s Quand vient la pluie and Iris Ganache, not to mention Jean-Paul Guerlain’s Spiritueuse Double Vanille, could all easily be translated into dessert (with Guerlain Homme’s mojito, we already have the pre-dinner cocktail).

La Petite Robe Noire is a macaron from across the street, chez Ladurée. It starts out on a tart mouth-watering red fruit Kool-Aid note before gaining in complexity with a rose-violet-raspberry jam sandwiched between darker, chewier vanilla-licorice-almond layers. Once that’s said, there’s nothing much to add. It’s actually pretty well balanced – the way it hangs together is Guerlain – and joyful, much in the way of Insolence Eau de Parfum. But does it deserve a separate launch, with a different style of bottle – what is it with this metastatic proliferation – when, as Octavian says, it’s more flanker-ish than anything else, a “Macaron Insolent”, as it were?

Though the SAs at the flagship store said they weren’t given the perfumer’s name, a few sources, most notably the Fashion Daily Style Newsletter, attribute it to Guerlain’s creative director Sylvaine Delacourte with young Drom Fragrances perfumer Delphine Jelk (who authored Bill Blass Couture numbers 7 and 8). What the hell has happened to Thierry Wasser after his well-publicized nomination as Guerlain’s in-house perfumer? A subject on which Helg of the The Perfume Shrine speculates after noting that neither of the two upcoming Guerlain fragrances, Eau de Shalimar Flower and Mitsouko Fleur de Lotus, are credited to him.

On another note, the tester for the über-expensive reedition of the 1914 Champs Elysée came out of the closet for me. Holy cat tush! Iris drenched in civet that gives off a distinct whiff of decay. I can’t quite imagine the collectors who forked out the 10 000 euros for the Baccarat turtle bottle ever wearing this. It doesn’t feel much like the vintage Champs Elysée Octavian made me smell-- that was much more aromatic, with tarragon, violet and violet leaf, rose, carnation, oakmoss and coumarin. And not an animalic whiff. Granted, formulas change over the years, but this is more like a feral sister to Jicky. The one that was kept in a cage in the basement.

I read, then reread Helgs vision on the house of Guerlain, then visited the Didier Ludot site, then got overcome by an insuppressable urge to dress in a little black dress - which in the end became a petit ensemble noir, due to wintertimes - and then, when deciding what fragrance to wear with my black effort tot elegance, did not succomb to the usual suspects - something chypre, anyway - but choose Nahema, the most fuchsia scent I dispose of. And it's Guerlain, of course. How inspiring. You and Helg - quel couple extraordinaire!

Bradamante: smart move, good choice. Why wear a "black" scent with a black outfit? Nahema is indeed a vibrant pink -- I love, love, love it. And what doesn't go with black? Or, for that matter, a vibrant pink?Thanks for the compliments!

IIA, I consider that all my perfume collection goes with black... This probably won't join said collection, but I think it achieves what it set out to be -- a Marie-Antoinette, à la Coppola -- type of delicacy, very well.

Ugh. Yeah, where is Theirry Wasser? Did he fall down the stairs? I am a huge fan of classic Guerlain, as you know, and liked Insolence more than most people. But I am bored to tears with their giant vat of powdery, vanilla-ish gourmand scent in a pricey bottle. Enough already! Let's have something new!

March, this isn't powdery, though Jarvis (he was with me in the shop) felt that the top notes were like cherry Kool-Aid powder. It's tart, sweet and chewy. It makes me hungry. It made us cross the street into Ladurée, where I had a cassis-violet macaron with jasmine tea, and indecent experience by any standards. (and you should've seen what was in Jarvis's plate: rose-raspberry lychee... wow).

I think the folks at Guerlain need to swear off candy and have their sinuses cleared. When they can breathe again, and think clearly, they should open up a dictionary and look up the word "legacy". A little reflection would do nicely.

Anonymous: well put. It's as though they only took the sweet bits of Shalimar (vanilla), Après L'ondée (ionones/heliotropin) and Mitsouko (peach) and thought that was sufficient.I do think that Insolence edp really smells guerlinesque, though.

Excellent review, honey!! (of course I didn't expect anything less)I am wondering why the ~excellent~ Insolence (which I love in both versions, EDT and EDP as you know) is being joined by both a flanker, the Eau Glacee, and now this petit ensemble with the new name. It seems somewhat redundant, doesn't it. But they might be thinking that this trend is quite popular in a less literal sense... Then again, what about that rumour that Octavian spread about how they might be at the start of an actual fashion project?

Got to laugh with March's line about TW falling down the stairs, LOL!!!

"A feral sister to Jicky. The one that was kept in a cage in the basement": That's an intriguing little thought! I came across a rarity, a true rarity by Guerlain these days and am thinking just how they translated those aspects through the years, weaving little snippets here and there. It's rather interesting to watch and compare chronologically.

Well, Helg, this makes me think, once more, that desserts are the new porn... With the thrill of the forbidden (the calories!), no need to be on the mating market, or to cater to a partner's feelings/whims/pleasures...Dessert perfumery is all that, but not on the hips. Uh oh, feel a post coming on!

I'm looking at the fall 2009 shows that are happening in NYC right now and noticing that the clothes are reflecting our economic stress in ways you would expect -- classics, tailoring, dark colors, clothes that are good for more than one season. Here's hoping that austerity starts being seen in the perfume world soon, because I am sick unto death of great houses like Guerlain churning out goo aimed at 16-year old girls (or 40-year olds who want to be 16). PAH!

A.: exactly my feeling. Guerlain is going through an extreme ethyl-maltol addiction phase and I wish they'd consider a moratorium on the ingredient. They manage to make expensive stuff smell cheerfully cheap!

Oh dear, don't give the folks at Guerlain any ideas. Next we will have a fragrance with cassis, violet, macaron, and jasmine tea over the lovely Guerlinade base. I will spoon it over my wrists and cleavage.

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Denyse Beaulieu

I am a writer and translator based in Paris, as well as the perfume editor for Citizen K. My book The Perfume Lover, A Personal History of Scent is published by Harper Collins (UK), St. Martin's Press (USA) and Penguin (Canada). The perfume linked to the book,Séville à l'aube, was composed by Bertrand Duchaufour for L'Artisan Parfumeur.